These groups will now compete to develop 7km of twin 5.7m i.d. running tunnels and six underground stations for the A$4.8 billion (US$4 billion) initial metro system line beneath Sydney’s central business district (CBD) from Central station south of the city to Rozelle in the north west. The scope of the PRI (Permanent Route Infrastructure) contract includes passenger access ways, cross passages, and the temporary works required to enable construction. Lead designers associated with the short listed pre-qualifiers are:

The tender process is set to close in December and award for the contract is scheduled for the second quarter of 2010.

Keen interest has also been registered for the project’s Integrated Metro Operations (IMO) contract which will deliver the rolling stock, install the track and operating systems, fit-out the stations and operate and maintain the Metro for a negotiated period. In July, 25 companies in seven consortia, from an original 13 interested groups, submitted expressions of interest (Table 1) and a shortlist of up to three will be invited to submit detailed IMO proposals later this year.

A Sydney Metro spokesperson confirmed that the capital costs of both contracts of the $4.8 billion CBD Metro are fully funded by the New South Wales State Goverment.

Talk of a metro system for Sydney has been around for some time but it took hold earlier this year when NSW Premier Nathan Rees established the Sydney Metro Authority and appointed Les Wielinga, former head of the New South Wales Roads and Traffic Authority, as its Chief Executive Officer. A Project Application for construction of the CBD Metro starter line was lodged in February and a 60m wide underground corridor was preserved for the 7km long, 20-35m deep rail line from Rozelle through Pyrmont and on to Central via junctions at existing underground CityRail stations at Barangaroo-Wynyard, Martin Place and Town Hall Square.

Community consultation began on the $4.8 billion project at the same time and a streamlined three-stage tendering process was introduced to cater for the high levels of interest for the main contracts with interested parties having to submit a $5,000 registration bond that was repayable upon receipt of a bona fide Expression of Interest.

In the meantime geological site investigations have been progressing along the identified underground route that crosses Sydney’s Harbour inlets twice. These investigations confirm that the majority of the tunnelling and underground station cavern excavation is expected to be in Sydney’s favourable Hawkesbury Sandstone.

The CBD starter line is designed and planned with capacity to provide the backbone for more ambitious extensions of metro services into greater Sydney.

Ambitious plans for future metro expansion

The first of the proposed extensions is the 24km long West Metro alignment south and west from Central to the Parramatta and Westmead areas. This estimated A$8.3 billion extension is entirely underground and has 11 planned underground stations.

In April, the NSW and Australian National Governments provided $30 million jointly for a feasibility study into the line and in May the Federal Government allocated a further $91 million towards detailed feasibility and planning. In June an review panel was appointed to oversee integration of the city’s existing heavy rail services, bus networks and other public transport facilities with the new Metro network and with the objective of delivering best value-for-money and easing the city’s significant urban congestion. “The next step for the extension is to submit a Preliminary Environmental Assessment and a Project Application with the State’s Department of Planning,” said NSW Minister for Transport, David Campbell.

The 24km West Metro extension from Central to Parramatta and Westmead

Sydney Metro is one of the world’s major railway infrastructure projects in development at present and when services on the CBD section start in 2015, the new service will free up capacity on the city’s existing underground CityRail heavy rail network. One of the new Metro system’s showcase stations will be the mined Town Hall Square Station that will link underground to CityRail’s existing cut-and-cover Town Hall Station.

Preliminary design of the Town Hall Station and its underground link to the existing CityRail Station

The prospect of working on a new metro system in Sydney attracted interest from far and wide. As well as the three short listed pre-qualifiers, two other entities submitted expressions of interest for the CBD PRI construction contract - BM2, a group of Brookfield Multiplex Constructions/MacMahon/Bouygues Travaux Publics, and Dragados of Spain.

SELI, a group partner in Metro Primo, is involved currently on construction of metro contracts in Caracas, Athens, Thessaloniki, Rome, San Paulo and New York, and has prequalified to tender for contraction contracts on the Copenhagen metro in Denmark, in JV with Salini and Tecnimont, and for the UG2 contract for the Calcutta metro in India as the 46% leader of a consortium with HCC of India and Jaeger of Austria.

In a novel sign of the times, an on-line website called E-Consult is established as the project’s forum for community input and consultation.